


We Have A World To Win

by bloodscout



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: 1960s, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Friends to Lovers, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-22
Updated: 2016-07-22
Packaged: 2018-07-26 01:03:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7554193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bloodscout/pseuds/bloodscout
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It is 1964, and political tables have been banned from Bancroft & Telegraph. Les Amis (and others) mount a fight against the Dean and the University.<br/>A Berkley Free Speech Movement AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	We Have A World To Win

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mercutios](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mercutios/gifts).



**July 1961**

Jehan Prouvaire, 15 years old, sits in his English classroom, everyone clustered around the small black-and-white television – the only television in the reservation. An elderly man sits at a desk, staring out at the sea of brown faces in front of him. His voice is stern, his expression controlled. “To weaken the Federal bureau of Investigation, to discredit its director, J. Edgar Hoover, to render sterile the security laws of our government,” the man began, staring at some fixed point on Jehan’s forehead.

 _This sounds pretty good to me_ , he thought, trying to control his smile.

For the next 45 minutes, Jehan was fixed to his seat, his eyes glued to the screen. Images of students rioting and causing havoc unfolded before him. That afternoon he raced home to his mother and father, bursting through the door and into the kitchen.

“Why so fast, Jehan?” His mother inquired, a little shocked at the fervor of her usually quiet and reserved son.

He bent down, hands on his knees, pulling in a few gasping breaths before he could speak.

“Mom, dad, I want to go to college.”

 

**March 1963**

All that Enjolras could hear around him was chanting and singing, hundreds of voices raised in protest. His face was hot with anger and his throat raspy with overuse.

  * 1963: Enjolras meets Combeferre & Courfeyrac at the Sheraton Palace demonstration



 

 

 

  * 1964: school begins
  * Jehan meets Combeferre in a poetics class – Jehan goes on a rant about Shelley to the right wing professor
  * Combeferre is instantly infatuated
  * Combeferre introduces Jehan to the group
  * Bahorel has been at the university since 61 Freedom Rides
  * “when does he graduate?” “who knows”
  * Jehan thinks Combeferre and Courfeyrac are dating
  * Organize a shop-in
  * Tables on Bancroft & Telegraph are banned
  * Move tables to Sather Gate
  * The Dean orders Enjolras to move on, he is cited, orders Combeferre to move on, he is cited etc. etc.
  * Jehan runs after the Dean, shouting “me too! Me too!”
  * Caucus before the round table
  * Emergency round table – what should we do? 16 hour meeting - decide on occupations and protests – direct action
  * Combeferre discusses Jehan with Enjolras - he is fiery and loud
  * “I thought you always had a thing for Courfeyrac?”
  * Paste up in the early hours of the morning, meet at Sproul Hall
  * Jehan find out Combeferre and Courfeyrac aren’t dating – confusion
  * Meeting on the steps of Sproul Hall – “whatever you do to those people, you’ve got to do to us!”
  * Occupy the halls of the dean’s office
  * Courfeyrac sings a song, (bread and roses) Jehan is enamoured, confused
  * “We told them they had to go back on the streets, where they’ve been traditionally for this kind of activity, and they then took the position that we want to undertake these activities on campus property itself, and we said ‘This is not possible.’”
  * Dean announces the suspension of the 5 + 3 movement leaders – outrage
  * Begin to set up tables as Sproul hall
  * Campus security harass them
  * Combeferre leads a reading group on the History of the Russian Revolution, Jehan can’t keep his eyes off of him
  * Jehan and Combeferre get into a in depth discussion about Lenin’s State and Revolution
  * Courfeyrac looks on upset
  * Continue to set up tables outside Sproul Hall
  * Security tips over the Les Amis table, throw their pamplets into the rain
  * Combeferre and Courfeyrac are sent off to mimeograph the pamplets
  * Courfeyrac quizzes Combeferre about his conversation with Jehan, asking if they are close
  * Combeferre becomes flustered, doesn’t want to tell Courfeyrac the truth because he thinks Courfeyrac likes Jehan
  * Arrive on October 1st to do the stall
  * Jack Weinberg refused to show his ID to campus security
  * Arrested, Courfeyrac tries to pull him away from the police
  * Enjolras gives a 3 minute speech about free speech and how to fight
  * Courfeyrac gives a speech about standing together, later in the night when people are leaving
  * First round of arrest threats, more people arrive to stand with the protesters
  * Combeferre gives a speech about the degree machine and our collective power
  * 6000 people, walking through the crowd, handing out pamphlets, talking to strangers
  * Montparnasse (frat boy) pushes to the front, gets his name on the list, tries to give a speech and then is heckled into supporting, is booed off the stage by Claquesous and Babet.
  * Combeferre and Jehan are walking through the crowd, see the “Mario Savio is a dupe of communism” sign, tear it up & Jehan jumps on the shreds
  * 32 hours, stay by the car overnight, sleep in shifts
  * Thanksgiving break
  * Jehan takes a job at an art gallery, Combeferre and Courfeyrac both decide to visit him on the same day and Jehan thinks it’s a date
  * Arrive back – the 8 cited receive motions to explusion notices.
  * Emergency Sproul Hall assembly – 8th Dec
  * Occupy Sproul Hall
  * Grantaire rocks up with a portable record player & 8 singles – Enjolras goes off at him
  * Michael Rossman: “4 students are getting the axe, 6 student organisations are getting the axe. They’re getting the axe not for what they have done, but for what we have done.”
  * Mario Savio: “We were told the following: If President Kerr actually tried to get something more liberal out of the regents in his telephone conversation, why didn't he make some public statement to that effect? And the answer we received, from a well-meaning liberal, was the following: He said, 'Would you ever imagine the manager of a firm making a statement publicly in opposition to his board of directors?' That's the answer! Well, I ask you to consider: If this is a firm, and if the board of regents are the board of directors; and if President Kerr in fact is the manager; then I'll tell you something. The faculty are a bunch of employees, and we're the raw material! But we're a bunch of raw materials that don't mean to be—have any process upon us. Don't mean to be made into any product. Don't mean… Don't mean to end up being bought by some clients of the University, be they the government, be they industry, be they organized labor, be they anyone! We're human beings! [applause] There's a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part! You can't even passively take part! And you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels…upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop! And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all!”
  * Grantaire leads a few dances – traditional Yiddish dances with other Jews, starts a polka with Courfeyrac and Jehan
  * Dr Edward Strong: “This assembly has developed to such a point that the purpose and work of the university have been materially impaired.” [applause] “Please go.”
  * Jehan sees the cops through the window, calls out the others
  * Enjorlas gives a speech on how to go limp
  * Combeferre catches Jehan’s hand and looks into his eyes – something changes
  * All dragged out down the stairs
  * “Do you want to go like a lady, or do you want to be dragged out?” “I want to be dragged out, like a lady!”
  * Then, greek theatre assembly – Courfeyrac catches Jehan’s hand too
  * Mario Savio tries to take over, he is dragged away
  * Swarm to the podium and all demand to let Savio speak
  * Last meeting before Christmas break – Jehan’s head is swimming – isn’t sure who to talk to so speaks to neither – they each think Jehan is mad at them for holding his hand
  * Christmas break
  * Jehan and Courfeyrac call each other every other day, Courfeyrac talks a lot about Combeferre thinking that he & Jehan are involved, Jehan talks a lot about Combeferre in response – Courfeyrac compliments Jehan’s poetry and Jehan gets flustered because the piece is about Courfeyrac
  * Combeferre and Courfeyrac visit the San Francisco zoo, Combeferre covers Courfeyrac’s eyes when the elephants start to mount, they share an icecream
  * Jehan & Combeferre talk on the phone and Jehan is sad that all they talk about is theory, Combeferre doesn’t want to talk about anything else in case he sounds too infatuated, worries that Jehan sounds bored
  * Jehan’s mother dies in a car accident, he stops answering calls
  * Combeferre calls Enjolras, worried, tells all. “I have to chose one of them or I’ll lose them both.” Enjolras is having his own issues and shouts that there should be no dating in political organizations
  * First meeting of semester before class – Enjolras asks Combeferre if he has decided – Combeferre agrees with Enjolras’s earlier formulation
  * Go back to class, staff walk out in support of the FSM
  * Victory meeting - Courfeyrac asks Combeferre out, thinking Jehan is mad at her, Combeferre says no
  * Jehan tells Courfeyrac why he wasn’t answering calls, Courfeyrac invites Jehan back to hers to talk about what is going on, Jehan eventually asks her out
  * They arrive to stall the next day together and Combeferre makes the right/wrong assumption, runs away crying
  * Jehan runs after him, asks him what is wrong
  * Combeferre confesses, Jehan kisses him, feels terrible
  * Has to tell Courfeyrac what has happened
  * Courfeyrac tells him that she was rebuffed by Combeferre, Jehan hugs her
  * They both approach Combeferre to tell him the truth together
  * Combeferre is shocked, surprised that they could want him, tells them how he feels
  * Jan 3 1965: Success of the FSM, new Dean Martin Meyerson allows tabling on Sproul Hall steps
  * Mario Savio: “But wait, don’t go yet, we’ve still got a war to stop”




End file.
